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Ares
}} Ares is the bloodthirsty Olympian God of War. Son of Zeus and Hera, Ares' strength is bolstered by violence, anger, hate, death, and bloodshed and as such is frequently seeking ways to incite these acts on Earth so that he may overpower the other Olympian Gods and rule Olympus. Background Born to the Greek gods Zeus and Hera, Ares' birth was long held under suspicion by Zeus as the subject of an affair made by Hera due to his own infidelities and as such regarded his son with disgust that was only further enforced by the war god's unrestrained bloodlust. Some time later, Aphrodite was only just married to Hephaestus, the God of the Forge, when she began a passionate affair with Ares. The union of love and war spawned the gods Eros (God of Love), Anteros (God of Requited Love), Phobos (God of Fear), Deimos (God of Terror), Harmonia (Goddess of Harmony), Eris (Goddess of Discord) and Adrestia (Goddess of Retribution). While Eros, Anteros and Harmonia favored their mother, Phobos, Deimos, Eris and Adrestia preferred to emulate their father, often accompanying him to war. Despite Ares putting the youth Alectryon in charge of keeping an eye out for the other gods during their trysts, the Sun God Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying each other secretly and he reported the incident to Hephaestus. Contriving to catch the couple in the act, Hephaestus fashioned an invisible net with which to snare them. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Ares and Aphrodite while locked in very private embrace. As a way to shame the two gods of their infidelity, Hephaestus then invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair and, once the couple were loosed, Ares, embarrassed, left for Thrace but not before turning Alectryon into a rooster (which now always announces the arrival of the sun in the morning) for his failure, while Aphrodite returned to her birthplace in Paphos. During the time of Hercules, accounts tell of a man named Cycnus of Macedonia; another son of Ares to a mortal woman, whose bloodthirsty nature was such that he tried to build a temple with the skulls and bones of travelers. When Hercules slaughtered the man in one-on-one combat, Ares attempted to avenge his son's death but the goddess Athena blocked his strike and Hercules took his opportunity to wound Ares and beat him to the ground, which caused his sons Phobos and Deimos to rescue their father and take him back to Mount Olympus. When the Olympian goddesses championed the creation of the Amazons of Themyscira, a race of women who would promote to mankind Gaia's principles of peace, love and unity between the sexes, Ares felt his domain threatened and used Hercules' madness, induced by Hera, to convince him that the Amazons were mocking him, which resulted in Hercules infiltrating and enslaving the Amazons; forcing them into exile to escape a world that hated them thanks to Ares' lies. During the ten-year siege known as the Trojan War, Ares had no fixed allegiance with any side. While he finally promised Athena and Hera that he would fight on the side of the Achaeans, Aphrodite managed to persuade him to side with the Trojans instead. During the war, when Diomedes, an Achaean hero, fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side, he broke off combat and called for his soldiers to fall back. When Athena also saw Ares' presence on the battlefield, she asked Zeus for permission to drive Ares away, which Zeus granted, and so Hera and Athena encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares. When Diomedes thrust with his spear at Ares, Athena aided his attack and injured her brother, causing him to abandon the battle and flee to Mount Olympus. When Hera mentioned to Zeus that another of Ares' sons, Ascalaphus, had been killed while fighting the Trojans, Ares overheard and wanted to join the fight on the side of the Achaeans. However, Athena managed to stop him after reminding him of Zeus' order that no Olympic god should enter the battle. Later, when Zeus allowed the gods to fight in the war again, Ares was the first to act, attacking Athena to avenge himself for his previous injury, however, Athena fought back and overpowered him by striking her brother with a boulder. Over the centuries, Ares devised numerous schemes that incited war and destruction across the globe. When his latest plot was to incite nuclear war by firing missiles between the United States and Russia, the other gods began retreating into oblivion after discerning that a nuclear holocaust world destroy the planet. As newly elected champion of the Amazons, Princess Diana left the island of Themyscira to confront Ares with the Amulet of Harmonia. Managing to make him see how this chaos would lead to his own destruction (due to if war destroyed everyone on Earth there would be no worshippers to ensure his existence and power), Ares agreed to abandon his plans for nuclear war and furthermore tasked the Amazon with continuing the Amazons' centuries-old task of promoting peace and unity in the world. Some time later, Ares possessed an unimportant criminal called Ari Buchanan, changed his name to Ares Buchanan, and began climbing the business ladder by providing hi-tech weapons for gang wars. As Buchanan, Ares also pursued a relationship with his lawyer, Donna Milton (who was Circe in disguise), conceiving a daughter with her named Lyta. However, Ares did not care much for Donna and shot her while she was pregnant. In retribution, Donna helped Diana out of a trap set by Ares and created a mini-black hole that absorbed Ares. In an attempt to prevent the Godwave from destroying all creation, the New God Highfather conceived of a plan to enter the heart of the Source to seal the breach and stop the Godwave. Needing the strength of multiple gods, Highfather called upon Zeus, his Roman counterpart Jove, and the "Old God" Odin before Ares, too, volunteered his services. As Highfather explained his plan to the other gods, he used the power of his staff to combine all five gods into a composite being simply called "the One". Aided by the New God Metron, the One was able penetrate the Source Wall leading into the heart of the Source, however, as the gods split from each other while within the source, Ares attempted to gain the power of the Source for himself and slew Highfather in mortal combat but was eventually subdued by the other gods and entrapped within the Source Wall. Some time later, as Zeus' power waned due to less and less people worshiping him on Earth, Aphrodite, Ares and Athena assumed more prominent roles in the pantheon, fueled by the changing face of mankind's faith. Every spark of conflict and aggression gave Ares power and purpose. After Athena took control of the throne of Olympus, Aphrodite stood at her side while Ares changed his title to God of Conflict. Realizing that a crossroads for the Gods of Olympus was soon to be reached, Ares confided in his half-sister, Cassandra Sandsmark, about a future war and bestowed upon her additional powers to act as his potential champion; giving her the Lasso of Lightning that emitted Zeus' lightning. He then traveled to Themyscira and kidnapped his daughter Lyta, who was at the time under the protection of the Amazons. Discovering this fact, Circe confronted Ares but agreed to remain as his consort and to raise their daughter Lyta in the Underworld. On the eave of the Infinite Crisis, when the Olympian gods were again withdrawing from the world, Ares appeared to Cassandra to offer her his power to aid in the conflict after Zeus took his away from her. Involvement *Ares appears in the final cut scene of Act of Defiance. *Ares is a boss in the Throne of the Dead raid. *Ares is first an enemy and then an ally in the Metal Pt. I: False Idols 8-player operation of the Metal Part I episode. Associated Equipment * Enhanced Emblem of Ares * Emblem of Ares * Boots of War * Gloves of War * Statue of Ares * Deific Utility Belt of Ares Trivia * Ares first appeared in Wonder Woman #1 (January, 1942). * Hippolyta was Ares' daughter before her murder and later reincarnation as an Amazon. * Upon one occasion in Ancient Greece, Ares incurred the anger of Poseidon after slaying his son, Halirrhothius, for raping Alcippe; a daughter the war-god had created with the mortal woman . For this, Poseidon summoned Ares to appear before the tribunal of the Olympic gods, where Ares was acquitted. Ares would later create his own realm at the location where the tribunal was held, naming it the "Areopagus". * Ares often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to his sister, Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence includes military strategy and generalship. * Ares is loved by the Spartans, who revered the God for his masculinity, his merciless warrior spirit, and tenacity against all odds. * Ares competes with Cheetah and Circe in being regarded as Wonder Woman's arch nemesis, having been one of Diana's most persistent foes since her introduction. * As with all celestial gods, Ares' power and life force depends on mortal faith. If mortals were to stop giving faith to him and indulging in his "realm of power" (in this case war, violence and conflict) he would lose his godhood, his immortality and, eventually, his life and cease to exist. Gallery File:AmazonFury24.jpg File:Act of Defiance.png HallsofHades8.jpg ThroneoftheDead7.jpg See also * Olympians External links * Wikipedia * DC Database Category:Olympian Category:Villains Category:Male Category:Wonder Woman Enemies Category:Magic Category:Fire powers Category:Iconic powers